The United States is a representative democracy, a country that is of, by and for the people. And yet, shamefully, it continues to deny the right of millions of Americans to choose representatives in the federal government who can fully represent their desires, hopes and dreams.

Citizens living in all 50 states choose those who will represent them in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. They also have the power to cast a vote for president, which their representatives in the Electoral College are supposed to follow when they in turn cast their vote for president.

That is not the case for citizens who live in the U.S. territories of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, or for the District of Columbia. We’re allowed to have non-voting delegates in the House, but no representation in the Senate. And we are prevented and forbidden from casting real and meaningful votes for the person who leads our country.

Guam Del. Madeleine Bordallo recently testified before the House Committee on Rules’ Subcommittee on Rules and Organization of the House on proposed amendments to the standing rules of the to provide some voting privileges to territorial delegates and Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner.

The proposed changes would:

restore voting on legislation and amendments in the Committee of the Whole;

allow delegates and the resident commissioner to vote in the election of the speaker; and

“If we are truly the people’s house, then the rules governing this body should reflect that sentiment. My tenure in Congress will end this year, but regardless of who holds this position, I hope that these proposed rules changes will ensure greater parity for my successor and my delegate colleagues with our House peers,” Bordallo said.

The United States must show that it truly is a representative democracy. A good place to start would be giving the only delegates we’re allowed to have in Congress the ability to vote, to give them status and power equal to other members of the House.

And the next step would be to fully deliver on the ideals upon which this country was founded – the right of every citizen to vote for president.